The quality of the gearing in a spinning reel often is readily appreciated by an angler. High quality gearing provides the angler with a smooth, tight feel when the handle is rotated. There is little or no play in such a gear mechanism that would affect the angler's ability to exert precise control over the action of the bait. Precise gear mechanisms also provide a longer useful service life before repair. Precision gearing is highly desirable in a spinning reel.
Unfortunately, precision gear mechanisms (i.e., tolerances of less than 0.0005 inches) tend to be found only in the more expensive reels. The reasons for the increased price are numerous, but mainly because conventional spinning reels use internal surfaces, screws, and pins on each die cast housing plate to support the gearing mechanisms. Each of these parts is, itself, made with a certain tolerance. When combined into a final assembly, those individual part tolerances accumulate. Such a cumulative effect works as a limitation on the process of making precision spinning reel gear mechanisms.
Moreover, any change in the external shape of the housing entails changes in the positions of the housing openings and the layout of the guiding surfaces used for the internal gears. New guide surfaces must be designed and positioned within the housing by a relatively low skill work force so that gears can be mounted inside the housing and operated. This process occurs for each new reel model. Also, because the reel foot is integral with one of the housing side plates in conventional spinning reels, wear or damage to the reel foot often requires that the entire reel be replaced.
The intimate relationship between the gears and the housing means that the critical gearbox support surfaces must be disassembled for lubrication and reassembled by the angler under uncertain circumstances. This may introduce alignment problems that compromise the gear mechanism.
It would be desirable to have a way to provide a high precision spinning reel gearing mechanism in spinning reels that offered and maintained a high level of precision for the life of the reel. It would be a further benefit to have a spinning reel gear mechanism that could accommodate changes to the external reel housing without re-designing the entire reel in order to make such changes, could separate the utility of the reel from the wear associated with the reel foot, or did not require disassembly of critical gear support surfaces for maintenance.
In addition, the unique nature of spinning reel design (including the housing and gearbox) often means that economies of scale may be difficult to realize in the manufacture of any one model of reel. Conventional manufacturing practice often means that production of one part in large quantity has a lower per unit cost than production of the same part in a lesser quantity. This means that reels with uniquely designed housings and gearboxes may not be able to be manufactured in sufficient quantities to realize maximized economies of scale with an associated lowered unit cost of manufacture.
It would be desirable to have a way to maximize manufacturing efficiency and lower per unit costs in the manufacture of spinning reels. Such lowered costs would permit the use of higher quality gearboxes without overall change in the manufacturing cost for the reel.